Portfolio Website Expert Advice | Your website is much like a digital storefront window – it’s the very first point of contact most your potential clients will have with you and your business, and the impression it leaves is more than likely to be the critical difference between success and failure of your business venture. The importance of setting up a great website becomes even more apparent once you realize there’s almost a million photography websites already out there. The good news, however, is that setting up a website that stands out and converts visitors into paying clients doesn’t have to be expensive or overwhelming.

If you do a quick Google search and check out some of the results, you’ll see most of the photography websites out there have one thing in common: they look terrible! While this definitely reflect badly on the photography industry as a whole, it makes setting up a website that keeps you a step ahead of the competition a lot easier. To help you get started on the right track and set up a website that works as hard as you do, we put together a list of the most important web elements that will help grow your client base. Whether you’re just starting out and you’re curious what makes a website great, or you already have a website up and running and you want to check if there’s anything you can improve to get better results, we’re sure you’ll find something new in this list, so let’s dive right in!

Simplicity | Portfolio Website Expert Advice

There are thousands of way we say this, but we’ll take our own advice here and keep it simple: Keep the design of your photography website simple. And no, “simple” doesn’t have to be synonymous with “boring!” The benefits of a simple design are practically endless – not only will it help you ensure your website loads faster, but it will also push your work front and center, where it belongs! At the end of the day, if your visitors can’t stop raving about the design of your website, barely mentioning your work, you’ve got a serious problem on your hands.

A complex design with tons of needless animations, shadows, textures, and other design elements will definitely stand out from all the photography websites out there, but it also might end up overshadowing your work and making the website difficult to use. Don’t distract your visitors; instead, make it as easy as possible to use your website and get from one page to another. This is why simplifying the navigation bar is critical for user experience. Resist the temptation to include every possible link in the navigation bar and limit your selection to 5-7 links to the most important pages. All other links can be tucked away neatly in a sidebar or even the footer of the page.

Speed | Portfolio Website Expert Advice

We’ve all become incredibly impatient and we expect instant gratification, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the same goes for our web habits. The average web user expects a website to load pretty much instantly, and will wait only a few seconds. This means you only have a few seconds to impress a visitor enough to make them stay, which isn’t an easy task, especially when it comes to image-heavy websites. This is why you should optimize each photo you upload and make sure you don’t upload too many of them, as it will take your website considerably longer to finish loading.

Accessibility | Portfolio Website Expert Advice

A few years ago, if you wanted to get the most out of your website, you had to set up two versions, one for the desktop computers and the other one for mobile devices. However, setting up a different version of your website for each screen size available would be an impossible thing to do, which is why whenever we set up a website for a client, we use responsive design. A responsive website will automatically adjust to any screen size by rearranging page elements and putting every pixel of available screen real estate to good use!

If you’re still not convinced you need a responsive website, keep in mind that it’s not just visitors that will take note of website optimization – even Google’s search algorithms have been updated to give higher rankings to mobile-friendly websites. This means that your visitors will be more likely to stick around and view your work for longer, but they’ll also be more likely to find your website when they google the services you’re offering. To get even better rankings, consider setting up a blog on your website, in addition to make it fully responsive.

A Regularly Updated Blog | Portfolio Website Expert Advice

Photography websites are notorious for the lack of copy, which can be devastating for search engine optimization, as they still can’t figure out what the photos are about, and can only index the actual text. By setting up a blog on your website, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to use your target keywords in an organic way. It’s not only search engines that love fresh content – your visitors will love it to, and they will have a reason to keep coming to your website even after viewing your entire portfolio. Blog about things you think they might be interested in, from tips, tricks, and industry secrets to sharing quick updates on your most recent shoots.

Share the love:020010

If you enjoy reading our blog, would you mind taking a moment to rate it? Thanks for your support!

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Name

Email

Testimonials

I had been following Media Novak’s work for a while now and was always impressed with their logo work. The logo designs they came up with based on my wishes for what I wanted it to look like were above and beyond what I had imagined. The process itself was smooth and so easy. I gave input and they took it on board and applied it to the next design. I would highly recommend them any day!

Chantal Lachance-Gibson Photography

I cannot begin to say enough about Mark & the team at Media Novak. Their customer service has been TOP NOTCH! They have gone way beyond my expectations and dreams and have put together a website for me that I am so proud of… I actually can’t believe that it’s mine! If you are looking for a new website or new branding then look no further… contact these guys today!

Myrick Cowart – Photographer

Thank you thank you thank you! I really appreciate all of your help and your quick replies and editing, and well, everything. I will DEFINITELY be referring your team! I love my new logo and I love that it is completely my own and completely encompasses my brand. I really appreciate all of the time and effort your team has put into this project. Thank you again and again!

Bethany Petersen – Photographer

I decided to hire Media Novak after seeing a friends logo that I really liked. I sent them my ideas but I actually preferred one of their original concepts over my own ideas! They really understood the look and feel I was trying to achieve and I am delighted with my new logo! I found the process to be really enjoyable and smooth and emails were answered very quickly… a big thumbs up from me!

Karen McGowran – Photographer

Media Novak were helpful and listened to me as the client… never once tried to push their likes onto me… but they do offer good advice. I think what has mattered most to me was once we went live, they were very much still around to iron out little problems that only became noticeable to myself with the daily running of a website and a blog! I would highly recommend them to other businesses!

Jo-Ann Stokes – Photographer

Media Novak designed a beautiful website for me and I’m very satisfied with it. They listened to what I wanted and tailored the site to fit me and I really appreciate that. Their prices are reasonable and the quality is fantastic. I would highly recommend this company.

About Us

MediaNovak is a creative design agency that specializes in web design, online marketing, graphic design and corporate identity solutions. We started our company with some basic ideals—offer our customers exceptional design, while delivering a positive customer experience.

These ideals have helped grow our business and drive customers to our door. A majority of our business comes simply from “word of mouth” referrals—one customer telling another of the experience that we offer here. We consider this the ultimate compliment.